Perspectivas dos estudos críticos do discurso para a gordofobia: uma análise de comentários nos perfis de Caio Revela e Thais Carla no Instagram

Abstract

This is a study within the field of Critical Discourse Studies (FLOWERDEW; RICHARDSON, 2018; WODAK, 2001) which aims to analyze fatphobic comments made by social media users in two fat activists’ profiles on Instagram, Caio Revela and Thais Carla. To do so, I rely on the Discourse-Historical Approach (WODAK, 2001; REISIGL, 2018) and Fat Studies (ARRAES, 2014; JIMENEZ-JIMENEZ, 2020; RANGEL, 2017; SANT'ANNA, 2016) to answer three research questions related to the discriminatory discourses investigated. The linguistic analysis has been done by reference to the systems of representations of social actors in discourse (VAN LEEUWEN, 2008), appraisal (MARTIN; WHITE, 2005) and legitimation in discourse (VAN LEEUWEN, 2008). The comments were selected from three posts produced by each of the activists in April 2021, and data collection was limited to ten comments with the highest number of likes in each post. Data analysis shows that fat bodies are constantly dehumanized by reference to animals and objects. Moreover, they are treated as ill and unable to perform daily activities. Appraisal expresses sarcasm, fear, disgust and aversion to fat bodies, and fatphobic discourses are legitimized by reference to health and/or commonsense, from a pathological perspective. Finally, I provide suggestions on how these discriminatory practices could be overcome.